Belt-shifter



(No Model.)

' E. A. WALKER.

BELT SHIFTER.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. A. WALKER'.

BELT SHIPTBR. A Y No. 472,745. Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

:fiera fr UNITED VSTATES PATENT OFFICE..

EDVARD A. VALKER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BELT-SHIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent yNo. 472,745, dated April 12, 1892.

Application filed April Z9, 1891.

To a/ZZ whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, EDWARD A. WALKER, of the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Belt-Shifting Mechanism, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to devices used for shifting belts from fast to loose pulleys, and vice versa, and has for its object the improvement of such devices, particularly as applied to the class of planing-machines in which the Work is held stationary and the cutting-tool carried on a reciprocating wheel actuated by the belts to which the shifting device is applied.

My invention will be best understood as described in connection with the drawings, in

which it is illustrated, and in which- Figure lis a plan view of aplaning-machine provided with my improvements; Fig. 2, an enlarged view in elevation showing the shifting mechanism immediately adjacent to the pulleys. Fig.- 3 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 3 4 of Fig. l; Fig. 4, a plan view showing a modification of the device especially illustrated in Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a cross-sectional elevation on the line 7 8 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a plan View, on an enlarged scale, of the shipper-slide and one of the shifting-levers; Fig. 7, a cross-section onthe line 1 2 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8, a perspective view of a part of the shipper-slide; Fig. 9, a perspective View of one of the lugs attached to the end of the shifter-bar; Fig. 10, an elevation of the face of the said lug, and Fig. ll a cross-sectional view on the line 5 6 of Fig. 1.

A is the bed of the planer; B B, the workholding tables secured to one side of the said bed, as shown; C, the traveling carriage which carries the cutting-tool and which is engaged with a screw D, working in a slot of table A, and to the projecting end of which screw are secured the fast pulley O and the loose pulleys O O.

E is a belt-shifting rod provided with a rack on its under face supported at one end in a bearing in the end of the bracket F and attached at its other end to the shipper-slide G, which rests on a plate or bracket M, secured Serial No. 390,9.'75. (No modeld of the bars or levers N are attached crescent"- shaped lugs L L, which are actuatedby the cams I and I in the usual and well-known way, causing the shifter-barsN to move backward and forward Whentheshipper-slide is moved, the bars N of course controlling the .l n

position of the straight and cross belts and causing them to pass from a loose to the fast pulley, as may be desired.

In devices such as are above described trouble is found at times owing to the shipper-slide moving too far, so as to let both ends of the crescent-shaped lugs L pass tocne side of its actuating-cam I or I. When this occurs, the shifting-bars are permitted to make improper and undesirable movements, with the result of throwing belts on which are intended to be off and otherwise interfering with the proper action of the machine. To

overcome this difficulty Ihave devised what I may call the first part of my invention, which consists in providing on the edge of the shipper-slide a Viiange of less breadth than ythe shipper-slide, extending along theedge ofthe same flush with the outer surface of the cam, and for use in connection with a shipper-slide so constructed I form the lug L'with arecess, as L3, at one end, formed so as to clear the flange J, permitting the end, as L', to rest against the surface proper of the shipperslide. The corresponding edge at the other end of the lug is not recessed or cut away, and consequently when the shipper-slide is drawn back so that both of the ends L and L2 are on one side of the cam the end L2 will rest on the liange J, and the'lug and its ati tached shifting-bar are thus held in the same position as when the end L2 is resting upon the cam I. Preferably two iianges are used IOO in connection with each cam, the one extend- With this construction the lug Lis recessed at diagonally-opposite corners, as is best shown at L3 and L4, Fig. lO. J and J3 are corresponding Iianges on the opposite side of the slide.

Referring now to the movable carriage C and the parts connected therewith, S is a feedshaft journaled in the lugs R R of the carriage and having journaled upon it a spurwheel S', which is engaged with the teeth of astationary rack, (indicated at S4,) said rack being supported alongside of the" movable rack E, as indicated in the drawings. The spur-wheel S' is held t-o the shaft S by a friction-clutch, and is connected by the movable crank-pin S2 and the usual gearing with a head S3, which holds the cutting-tool of the planer` Journaled on the shaft S is a sleeve# shaft Q, to thein'ner end of which is attached a gear-wheel P, which is engaged with the rack-bar' E, and 'to' the outer end of vwhich isv attached the,l hand-wheel Q". As the car'- r'iage C Iis f ed along the bed A bythe rotating screw-shaft D, the' stationary rack 'E causes the gearlwheel P and shaft Q to revolve, and the operator when he' defsiresvto stop or reverse the kmachine -can do so by simply holding the wheel Q', thus stopping the revolution of the gear-P, which as the carriage C continues to advance moves the rack-bar E and the shipper-slide G,- which, acting in the way described, moves the shifting-barsN and changes the belts upon the pulleys.

So far as above described the mechanism indicatedV forms no part of my present invention, and is fully shownrand described in my pending applications for Letters Patentnainely, in two filed on October 1,1899, numbered, respectively, 366,776 and 366,777, and one' filed on April 18, 1891, and numbered 389,422. Ihave therefore not thought it necessaryor desirable to describe minutely these parts of thelmac'hine.

n In my said pending applications'for Letters Patent the automatic reversal of the movements of the carriage C are effected in the usual way by means of adjustable lugs fastened on the bar E and stops` secured tothe frame of the machine. With this familiar arrangement, however, I have observed that some time and trouble are required in adjusting the stop-lugs to vary the movement or travel of the carriage, and also that the machine is subjected to undesirable severe strains, owing to the suddenness with which the motionl of the carriage is reversed, and to overcome these difficulties I have devised the stop or reversing device which I am about to describe. d l

I secure to the shaft Q, near its outer end,a worm T, and engage said worm with the counter-shaft U', supported on the carriage C by means of a worm-wheel U, secured to said shaft, and I then provide stop mechanism to act upon the shaft U, by which its motion is arrested at each end of a determined angular movement. It is obvious, of course, that the shaft U being near the end of the carriage at which the operator stands, the stops acting on the shaft U' canlbe readily adjusted and changed by the operator while the machine is in motion and without requiring him to ileave the position in which he should beto watch and control the work. It is also obvious that by acting throughl the worm-gears described the stops in arresting the motion of the pinion P and rack E Will act more gradual and with less shock than the ordinary stops above mentioned, the motion of the shaft U' being so gradual that nothing in the nature of a blow or shock could take place when v its motion is arrested.

The stop mechanism used in connectionl with the shaft'U' may be of any convenient description, a good plan being that indicated in Figs. l and 3', in'whicha disli V'mis shown as supported` bya sleeve V, surrounding shaft U' ,and byplates V2, connected with; the disk and with the carriage C. The' shaft U' passes through the disk V', which hasY arow' of holes or perforations V3 around its periphery, and to the top of shaft U' is attached a linger U2, which moves over the face of the disk as the shaftrevolves. By placingpins in the holes V2 on each sideof the finger' U2 the said finger is arrested andthrough it the shaft U' and its connected mechanism, which of course results in the' shifting' of the belts by the mechanism described and the reversal of the ymo',- tion of the carriage C and of the shaft U. I have indicated perforations U3 in the; hub of the tin ger U2 as 'convenientpla'ces for holding the pins W, of which a few eXtra onesmay conveniently be on hand when the said pins are not in use. v y d Vhat is, mechanically speaking, much the same deviceisillustrated in the modification of Figs. 4 and 5, in which construction the disk V' is attached to and rotates with the shaft U', while a stationary stop-finger W is attached to the frame of ther carriage, so as tovproject over the line of holes in the disk V'. As shown, the' finger W is pivotally attached to the carriage and is provided with a lever-arm W2, by which it can be mt'fed away from its operative position at w1 I have hereinbefore described the use of a worm and wormwheel for'gearing together the shafts Q and V', and such gear is, I believe, the best for the purpose; but it is of course obvious that other well-known geartrains may be used in place of the worm and worm-wheel, and in a broader sense the plan illustrated is to be taken as merely showing one ofthe many well-known equivalent devices for engaging two shafts. Y

Having now described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- l. In a beltsshifting device, the shipperslide G, having projections I I' upon Vits edges, and a iange or iianges, as J, extending from one or both of said progections, as described,

IOO

IIO

in combination with shifter-levers N, having actuating-lugs L arranged, as speced, with respect to projections I I', one end of the lng being recessed, as at L3, to clear the ange J and the opposite end adapted to ride on said flange, all substantially as specified, and so as to hold the shifter-arm in proper position when the shipper-slide moves too far.

2. In a belt-shifter, the combination of the shipper-slide G and its actuating-rack E, the shaft Q, journaled on a movable carriage, a gear-wheel P, attached to said shaft and engaged with rack E, a counter-shaft U', gearing connecting-shafts Q and Uf, so that the latter will be driven by the former, and adjustable stop mechanism arranged to arrest the motion of shaft U at determined points and by arresting the motion of shaft Q and gear 4P to move the rack E and attached shipper-slide. y Y

3. In a belt-shifter, the combination of the shipper-slide G and its actuating-rack E, the shaft Q, journaled on a movable carriage, a gear-Wheel P, attached to said shaft and engaged with rack E, a Worm T, secured to shaft Q, a shaft U', having a Worm-Wheel U engaged with Worm T, and adjustable stop mechanism arranged to arrest the motion of shaft U at determined points and by arresting the motion of shaft Q and gear P to move the rack E and attached shipper-slide.

EDWARD A. WALKER Witnesses: n i

WM. W. SMITHERS, JOSHUA MATLAOK, Jr. 

